Bruce Springsteen Reveals 2019 Plans: New Album, E Street Tour

Bruce Springsteen plans to get back to his "day job" soon, with a new album and an E Street Band tour on the horizon.

In a new interview with U.K.'s Sunday Times, Springsteen, who has been performing his highly acclaimed one-man Broadway show for more than a year, says he has a new album in the can. And while "for lack of a better word, it’s a singer-songwriter album — more of a solo record,” he says, he'll also embark on a tour with his longtime band.

Though the interview veers more political than musical, Springsteen rejects the idea that he'll ever run for office, saying that while he has the money and connections to make a political bid feasible, "At the end of the day, you’re just a musician with a loud mouth.”

So music is where he'll be focusing his energy. The as-yet untitled and undated effort will be his first studio album release since 2014's High Hopes. Presumably, it is the same album he spoke of in October 2017, put together from material he wrote back in 2012. "Really, that record is influenced by Southern California pop music of the ‘70s. Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach – those kinds of records," he said at the time.

Though he didn't reveal a specific kickoff or scope for the tour, the Times notes it'll be underway in the next few months, and will include stops in the U.K. Some E Street Band members, however, are not so sure.

E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren tweeted "Only the Boss knows," and guitarist Steven Van Zandt added "We say the same things over and over and over and people choose not to listen. Once again-There are no plans for E Street Touring in 2019 right now. Could that change at any moment? Yes. We will try and get an official statement. Maybe that would help. Maybe not! @nilslofgren."

In the meantime, he'll be wrapping up Springsteen on Broadway in a few weeks, which will culminate in the release of an album comprising the 15 songs he performs each night, as well as the premiere of the show on Netlix.

“Your Mick Jagger [75] does very well,” he says. “So does Paul McCartney [76]. BB King and Chuck [Berry] played into their eighties. I sang with Pete Seeger when he was 90.

“I’m suited for the long haul. I’m interested in what I might accomplish over a lifetime of music making," Springsteen continues. "I would like to have a 70-year-old Elvis reinventing his talents and [seen] where Jimi Hendrix might’ve next taken the electric guitar.”